Thought I would finish up what we did yesterday first. Katie had a church meeting last night, so Gus took us out for supper at Bob Evans. This was our first experience with this restaurant chain, and we found the food to be delicious. The three of us then took a little stroll through their local Wal Mart so John could get some cold medicine. Carol and Bill returned from their trip with colds and John managed to catch it before we left--he has spent most of yesterday and today sneezing and blowing his nose. FYI--I won the poker game.

John and I were up early this morning and got on the road by 7 a.m. Our first stop was McDonald's for breakfast and then we hit the interstate. The weather was sunny and warm--perfect for traveling. We stopped somewhere in Illinois for lunch and made it to Black River Falls, WI before pulling off the road for the night. We found a nice Cracker Barrel for supper and then spent the evening watching the Phillies and Reds play again. Tomorrow is the final leg of the journey--it'll be good to be home again. We had a wonderful time visiting with friends and family, but there's no place like home.

Darlene-My knee is doing just great. Thanks for asking.

Today I am writing my blog entry at Borders. For those of you who don't know what Borders is, it's a book store with a cafe and free wireless. Katie and I came here so I could do my blog and then take some time to look at books. Actually, Katie is browsing the store while I am writing this update.

Yesterday afternoon Katie and Gus treated us to some real Cincinnati chili after our trip to the antique mall. The guys couldn't learn anything about the sword because all the dealers where gone--so it was decided we would bring the sword home and take it with us to Texas and see if someone down there might have some information about it.

Last evening was the first post-season game for the Phillies and Reds. A member of Gus's church invited us over for pizza and the game since Gus doesn't get TBS at his house. John and I were the only Philadelphia fans there and he did a good job of restraining his enthusiasm for the winning Phils. Tim and Molly were very gracious hosts and have a beautiful new home. We had many different delicious snacks and pizzas to eat--even a big Phils and Reds cookie. Folks starting stabbing the Phils name at about the 7th inning. It was a great game if you're a Philadelphia
fan. We stayed to watch just a few minutes of the Yankees and Twins, and then headed home.



We had spent a pretty quiet morning around the house. John and I did take a nice walk down the road and back. The weather is just beautiful today with sunny skies and warm temps. Gus insisted that we play cards so we spent the rest of the morning playing some poker. The game is on hold for now, but I think I have the most chips. We will head out for home tomorrow morning.

My blog update is a little late because Gus did not have good internet access at his house, so this morning we went into Cincinnati to a Panera's where they have wireless internet. I will update you all on yesterday, but not sure I will be able to do it again until we are on our way back to Minnesota.

Tuesday morning we left New Stanton around 8 a.m. and, once again, drove most of the morning through rain. The traffic was very light so it wasn't a problem. We stopped for lunch right outside of Columbus and by the time we finished eating, the sun was shining. Gus called wanting to know where we were, and told us we should be at their place in a little over an hour. He was right--we pulled into his driveway around 2 p.m.

We had an enjoyable evening visiting and recalling many funny incidents from the past. Gus and John were their usual obnoxious selves with each other. For today's adventure we are heading off to an antique mall where the guys are taking the sword John got from his cousin. They want to try and find out if it is authentic or something about it's history.

Well, gotta go. Maybe we'll go somewhere else tomorrow where I can update the blog and add some photos.

When planning our trip to Gus's in Ohio, we decided to make the trip over two days rather than one long one of 12 hours. By leaving Pop's a little later in the morning we were able to spend some additional time with Bill and Carol (and also avoid the rush hour traffic through Philadelphia).

Our plan was to leave Pop's at 10:00 a.m. We got out the front door on time, but as we were standing outside saying our final good-bye's to Bill and Carol, a neighbor from the old days came walking down the street and stopped to chat for awhile. Needless to say, we were a little later leaving Oaklyn.

We had smooth sailing all the way through the city and onto the PA Turnpike. After leaving the city, the rains started again and we pretty much had rain off and on for the rest of the day. At lunch time we pulled into a service area and had lunch at a Roy Rodgers. This was our first time eating at this food chain and found they had good hamburgers, but cold and soggy fries.

The ride through the Pennsylvania countryside was very pretty with the leaves showing their fall colors. We pulled off the road for the day at New Stanton and checked into our motel. The Garmin found us a Cracker Barrel near by and we enjoyed a nice quiet dinner. After eating we returned to our motel and took a swim in the heated pool. The evening ended by watching Monday Night Football.

John and I were up a little earlier this morning and started organizing our things and getting them ready to load in the car. Pop decided he wasn't up to attending church this morning, so John and I went by ourselves. This is the church where we were married 46 years ago. We saw a few folks we knew from the old days and spent some time after the service visiting with them.

Following lunch we did some more packing and then headed over to JB's to help him with a computer problem. As he has two TV's set up we were able to watch two different NFL games at the same time. Personally, I found it hard to concentrate on two games at once--must be a man thing. After an hour or so, we said farewell to JB and invited him to come to Texas this winter. He is seriously considering giving us a visit sometime after the first of the year.

I almost hate to write this, but we stopped for another Philly Cheesesteak on the way back to Pop's. This time we bought just one and split it--this will have to last us until we come East again.

Carol and Bill arrived home just as we were finishing supper. They had spent a week in North Carolina and had rain just about everyday of their vacation. Yesterday was their only sunny day--it started to rain again as they started the drive home this morning. Even though the weather was poor, they had a great time with their friends.

We all spent a quiet evening hearing about their trip and catching up on what has been happening in our lives and the lives of our kids. Tomorrow we head out on the next leg of our trip--a visit with John's brother in Ohio.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect today. After the heavy rains of the other night and a week of cloudy weather, today's sunshine was very much appreciated.

I spent some time out in the yard just enjoying the nice day and then had to get down to the business of starting to gather our belongings in preparation for leaving here on Monday. Laundry was the number one job for today. I have all the clothes cleaned and now just need to repack them in the suitcases. Tomorrow I will go through the house and make sure we have all our stuff--camera charger and batteries, laptop power cords, etc.

John and I decided to have one more cheese steak, so we walked a couple of blocks to the store and got cheese steaks for all of us for supper. They sure tasted good. We spent the evening watching college football. Carol and Bill will be back by Sunday evening and we will hit the road for Ohio on Monday morning.

Most of the night we had very high winds along with heavy rains which resulted in the Philadelphia area receiving almost 10 inches of rain. When we looked out the back door this morning, the creek, which runs behind Pop's house, was overflowing its banks. There were many branches down in the yard and a lawn ornament is missing. Maybe it will show up when the water recedes.

After lunch we headed off to Long Beach Island to visit some friends we have known for over 40 years. We were anxious to see how things were on the island after this storm had passed. The first thing we noticed when driving over the causeway bridge, was that the bay was exceptionally high and rough. We drove out to the end of the island to get a look at the ocean. The surf was very rough and high and a good portion of the beach had eroded away.

After spending some time looking at the ocean and walking a little on the beach, we headed over to the Kelley's house. We spent an hour or so visiting and then they took us out for supper. Many of the business establishments have closed for the season, but we found a cute little cafe called the Chicken and Egg that was still open. We all enjoyed a delicious meal was we reminisced about old times. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the city. We arrived home in time to visit with Pop a little before he headed off to bed. John and I spent the remainder of the evening watching the Phillies on TV.

(I had some trouble getting the pictures on the blog this evening, so I had to put the shore photos at the top of the page.)